Former Republican election official buys Dominion Voting — a target of 2020 conspiracy theories

KNOWiNK, a St. Louis-based provider of electronic poll books that allow election officials to confirm voter information, announced the deal and the name change. In a possible nod to a groundless conspiracy theory that linked Dominion to the late Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, the release highlighted that the company would become “100% American-owned.”

The announcement also quotes KNOWiNK's owner, former St. Louis elections director Scott Leiendecker, as vowing to provide “election technology that prioritizes paper-based transparency,” one of the longtime demands of election conspiracy theorists. Almost all U.S. voting equipment already leaves a paper trail.

Dominion’s former CEO confirmed the sale in a single-sentence statement on Thursday: “Liberty Vote has acquired Dominion Voting Systems,” John Poulos said.

The release from the new company vows to reintroduce “hand-marked paper ballots” and adjust company policies to follow Trump's executive order on voting procedures, which is not in effect because judges have ruled that Trump doesn't have the power to mandate them. Part of the president's order sought to prohibit voting equipment that produces a paper record with “a barcode or quick-response code” — equipment that is currently in use in hundreds of counties across 19 states.

Denver-based Dominion was at the heart of some of the most fevered conspiracy theories about Trump's loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election., Those false allegations sparked a number of defamation lawsuits against conservative-leaning media and the president's allies, including a settlement in 2023 in which Fox News agreed to pay Dominion $787 million and one this year that Newsmax settled for $67 million.

The announcement from the new company does not disclose the cost of the transaction, but a spokesman said all the money was put up by Leiendecker. Both companies involved are privately held.

The false allegations against Dominion made its brand toxic in many Republican-leaning states and counties. But voting machine companies are usually careful about making overt political statements, given that the market for their equipment is split between places under Republican and Democratic control.

The statements by Liberty Vote saying it will align with Trump's executive order, which has been challenged by Democratic state attorneys general, the Democratic National Committee and an array of voting and civil rights groups, could lead to concerns in blue states that currently use Dominion equipment.

But some election officials said Thursday that KNOWiNK had seemed to steer clear of 2020 conspiracy theories and acted like a typical, nonpartisan firm.

“They have a good reputation in the field,” Stephen Richer, a Republican who was targeted by Trump and his allies when he served as the top elections official in Arizona's Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix.

Despite years of detailed debunking of the Dominion conspiracy theories, Trump has continued to repeat them even as recently as a few weeks ago, when he vowed to get rid of voting machines. The president doesn't have the power to do that because the Constitution gives states and Congress the authority to set election and voting rules.